League option closed -Di Maio

(ANSA) - Rome, April 24 - 5-Star Movement (M5S) leader Luigi Di Maio said Tuesday that League leader Matteo Salvini has "condemned himself to irrelevance" for refusing to meet the anti-establishment group's demand that he drop his centre-right alliance partners to make a government-formation agreement possible.
    Di Maio said that option of the M5S ruling with the whole centre right, including Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia, was a path that could not be taken, after consultations with Lower House Speaker Roberto Fico, who has been given a mandate from the president to see if a M5S-PD government is possible. He said the M5S was ready to open government-formation talks with the Democratic Party (PD) despite "profound differences" with the centre-left group.
    The M5S has frequently vilified the PD, which has led the last three Italian governments but had said it would be in the opposition after registering its worst-ever showing in last month's inconclusive general election. Di Maio said it was necessary to "put the national interest at the centre" of talks and focus on issues.